Change
by JennyGranger
Summary: Day 2 of Zutara Week.


I own nothing. May be expanded once I have more time.

Change

For the seventh time that night, a haughty sigh cut through the stillness of the dark. Zuko refused to look up, and could almost feel the blue eyes boring themselves into his back as a result. He suppressed his own sounds of indignation.

"If you don't want to keep watch with me, Katara, than go to bed," he said, still not looking up at the girl who sat about ten feet away from him, "I'm perfectly capable of guarding you guys."

"Because you're a guy?" she asked resentfully, "I can keep us safe just as effectively as you can. Besides, the sun's going down. You won't be able to stay awake long enough to even get through the shift without me here, will you, Mr. Firebender?"

It was true, Zuko could feel his body reacting to the disappearance of the sun over the horizon, but he knew he couldn't show it in front of Katara or he would never hear the end of it.

"Fine. Stay out here," he said, utterly confused when she let out a strangled squawk.

"So now you're patronizing me?" she cried, "Well, maybe I have a half a mind to go - What was it you wanted to do earlier? - 'patrol the forest.'"

All throughout this argument, Zuko had tried to keep a level head, but he could feel his temper quickly shortening.

"You'd put, not only Aang, but Sokka and Toph in danger by leaving? That is the most idiotic, hare-brained excuse at trying to get a point across I have ever seen."

"Well, maybe if I wasn't speaking to an idiotic, hare-brained traitor, I wouldn't have to resort to those methods."

"Well, maybe -"

"ENOUGH!"

The two jumped back, not even aware that they had gotten to their feet and was yelling in each other's faces. They glanced toward the tent where Aang and Sokka were currently residing, but all was quiet in that direction, as was Toph's sleeping area. Suddenly, a light blinded them both and a divine presence with flowing white hair was floating down from the unexpectedly bright moon above.

Neither of them said anything as Yue landed softly, more spirit than being, before them. Without saying anything, she reached out and placed an index finger on both of their foreheads. After only a few seconds, they both started feeling sick and dizzy. Only when their legs gave out and they fell, did Yue withdrawal her touch.

"Everything will return to normal when you two learn that balance is the only way," she stated, before disappearing into the darkness once more.

Blinded by the darkness that overcame the place the Moon Spirit had stood, Zuko pushed himself into a sitting position and waited for his eyes to adjust. Despite what had just happened, he didn't feel tired. In fact, with each passing moment, his head seemed to get clearer. He wondered if anything had actually happened. Only when a groan sounded from where Katara had fell did he realize how wrong he was.

"What happened?" came a voice from the darkness. But it didn't sound like Katara. It sounded like… him. Blinking furiously, he forced his eyes to get used to the darkness. His heart stopped when he saw his own golden eyes staring back at him.

"Katara?" he asked, his own voice different. Even though he was half-way expecting it, he couldn't help but be surprised when her voice seemed to come from his mouth.

They stared at each other for the next few moments, horrified, unsure of what to do, and just plain confused. Only when Katara reached up and kneaded her forehead with the heel of her hand, did Zuko finally move.

"You should go to bed," he said, "You'll only feel worse as the night goes on."

"I'm not going to bed until we can figure out what the h -" she was cut off by a sudden yawn, "-eck happened."

"That's obvious, isn't it? We've switched bodies, which means you're a Firebender, which means you and the nighttime don't exactly get along."

"I don't ever remember you having a hard time with being up all night when you were chasing us!"

"I'm used to it. You're not. Look, it was us fighting like this and probably got us in this mess in the first place. If you're not going to bed, at least let me know how we're going to tell the others," he made to gesture to the area where the others were sleeping blissfully through this, but instead he sent a small wave of water, leftover from washing dishes, in that direction. They could only watch as it hit the tent, and cringe as Sokka's yelp filled the air.

"Katara!" he yelled, poking his head from the soaked tent and glaring at Zuko, "What was that?"

"Uh…" Zuko stammered, glancing over at his own, unhelpful, face, "Sorry. Me and Kat-… Zuko were just… uh… arguing."

"Well, could you try to keep your water to yourself, please? Some of us have to get up in a few hours to take over the watch!"

"Sorry," Katara said, trying not to cringe as pain seemed to rip through her head, "We'll keep it under control."

Scowling and muttering, Sokka disappeared back into the tent, leaving the two staring at each other. Silence settled between them for a long while.

"So what are we going to tell them?" Zuko finally asked. He watched his own body as it drew its knees up to its chest and shrugged, "Don't do that," he said, as Katara started drawing random designs in the dirt with her finger. She stopped and looked up.

"Do what?"

"Look so… helpless," he said carefully, not wanting to make her angry again. However, the nighttime seemed to be having a very big effect on her and she only outstretched her legs and leaned back on her arms.

"I don't know what we're going to tell them," she said, resisting the urge to just fall down onto her back and go to sleep, "Sokka would laugh. Aang wouldn't believe us and think it was just an excuse to be sneaking around together. Toph might believe us, though. She's good at telling things like that."

"Yeah, she is," Zuko said, before something she said registered, "Wait. Aang thinks we're… together? Like… together?"

"Uh-huh," Katara said simply, too tired to explain further.

"Huh. Well, there's nothing we can do about that. For now, let's agree that we won't tell them until we can get a better grip on the situation. Agreed?"

"Sure," Katara said around another yawn, "Is this really what the night does to Firebenders?"

Zuko grinned, "Honestly, it's normally not that bad. It might have something to do with you actually being a Waterbender," he opened his mouth to go on, but stopped when he looked over and saw his body sleeping peacefully on the dirt. He watched her for only a moment longer before glancing up at the moon, shining oh-so-innocently down on them.

"Uh… Katara?"

Zuko awoke to a tapping on the tent he had settled down in after Sokka and Aang took over the nighttime watch. He couldn't help but glance over at them, not remembering them crawling back in the tent for the rest of the night. He vaguely wondered how long they had been there.

"Zuko!"

His own voice knocked him out of his reverie and he scrambled outside to find Katara, still in his body, pacing and looking very uncomfortable.

"What?" he asked, perhaps a bit harsher than he should have. However, he realized what was wrong the second the word left his mouth, "Oh-no. You have to -?"

"Yeah," Katara said, and Zuko barely had time to register how ridiculous she was making him look at the moment before she continued, "I have to. I just thought…. Well, I – I didn't want to just go off and do it without you knowing, so I just -"

"Katara, just go," Zuko said, "It's morning. We all have to. Go and get back to you can… talkmethroughit," he mumbled the last part, not quite being able to look into her eyes, even if they were his own. However, he wasn't quite sure if she heard him, since, when he looked up, all he could see was the rustling of the trees she had run through to get some privacy.

"Where's Sparky going to in such a hurry?"

Zuko wheeled around at the sound of Toph's voice.

"Uh…. Just… nowhere…" he stammers out, forgetting his friend was blind and avoiding her eyes anyway.

"Geez, Sugar Queen, your heart's racing. What's going on? And don't tell me I walked in on you two because I would've been able to see -"

"No, Toph, you didn't," Zuko said, resisting the urge to cringe, "But -"

"Holy Spirits, Zuko, you would think you would -" Katara muttered when she came back into the clearing. However, she stopped dead when she saw Toph standing there, "Hey… Toph," she said, weakly trying to remember how Zuko normally greeted the young girl.

Toph seemed to be evaluating the situation, and both Zuko and Katara knew the earthbender could tell something was amiss. They both waited to see what kind of question she would pose to them.

"What's going on?" she finally asked, "And, remember… I can tell when people are lying."

Katara sighed and glanced over at her own, equally unhelpful, face.

"We seemed to have switched bodies somehow," Zuko finally said, subconsciously beginning to shift his weight, "It happened last night, when we were on watch."

Toph was silent for several minutes. They waited once again to see what her reaction would be. Both their faces fell when she burst out laughing.

"Oh, that is great!" she cried out, "Sparky and Sugar Queen! Wait until the others hear about this!"

"No, Toph!" Zuko said, but for some reason was unable to meet the girl's eyes, "You can't tell the others. There's no telling how they'll react. They might… they might…. Damn it, Katara! How do I pee?"

Silence fell between the group at this outburst. Soon, however Toph had dissolved into another fit of giggles. Katara, however, took a bit longer to get over the shock.

"Well," she finally managed to get out, her face as bright of red as the scar that now resided on it, "You, just… um… well… pull down your pants and… well… squat," she paused before going on in a rushed voice, "But you should know that I -" However, when she looked up, he had disappeared. She winced and rubbed at her forehead, mentally counting down until…

"KATARA!"

Sighing, she grabbed a small bag that resided next to the tent and made her way through the brush to where Zuko had disappeared. When she found him, the lower part of her own body was hidden behind a fallen tree, but it was obvious he was scared.

"Here," she said, handing him a folded cloth from the bag, "Put this in my… er… your undergarments. Change and wash it every few hours. Now, if we're lucky, your screaming didn't wake up Aang and Sokka."

"So this is why you were so bitchy last night?" Zuko asked before he realized that Katara had made no move to leave, "Do you mind? A little privacy here?"

"It's my body," she said, "It's not like I haven't seen any of it before. And, yes, that was why I was bitchy last night. Of course, having to be on watch with you can make anyone ornery."

"Hey," Zuko said, straightening up from where he had bent down to follow her instructions, "At least I try to get along with you. And your brother sleeps like a rock, and is just as dense. I don't think we have him to worry about for a while. Aang, on the other hand… he'll be a bit harder to convince. Are you sure we shouldn't just tell him? We don't know how long we'll be stuck like this."

But Katara wasn't listening. Something was going on inside her that made it hard to concentrate. It was the thing that she had inherited by currently inhabiting the body of a teenage boy. Make that a teenage boy in the presence of a half-naked teenage girl, even if was herself.

"Katara?" Zuko tried once again to gain her attention, but she didn't seem to hear him. She had taken several steps toward him and he did not like the look that was in her (that were actually his) eyes. He quickly managed to become properly dressed and managed to climb over the tree by the time she reached him.

The next thing he was aware of was the feeling of his own lips. And how pleasant it was. They both closed their eyes and felt an identical sensation in the backs of their minds. However, they ignored it and continued to deepen the kiss. Zuko was aware that the lips he was kissing had become softer, more tender.

When he opened his eyes, it was blue he was staring into, not gold. Neither of them said anything for several long moments before he was the one to break the silence.

"Wow," was all he could say.

"Yeah."

"How are we going to tell the others about _that_?"

Katara looked up at him, then, inexplicably, started laughing.

"I think we would've had an easier time convincing them we had switched bodies!"

And he started laughing too.

Meanwhile, the spirit of a young woman with white hair materialized in the tent Sokka had been residing in all morning. The two locked eyes for a moment before Yue nodded and dematerialized. Sokka stared at the spot where she disappeared, almost longingly, before pressing his face into his sleeping bag, trying to muffle his laughter.


End file.
